


Cleaning House

by landsail0r



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Angst, Complete, Friendship, Gen, One Shot, casually projects all executive function feelings onto this poor sad elf, you can tear this trash baby from my cold dead hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 11:27:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4664844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/landsail0r/pseuds/landsail0r
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>oh god mistakes have been made</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cleaning House

Hawke gently pushed against the front door of the mansion, and the scuffed wood gave way after a second and swung inwards. The hinges whined a little, and the late afternoon sunlight caught the eddies of dust thrown up by the movement of the door. They couldn’t seem to get the door all the way open, and after they slipped through the gap they realized that it was blocked by a half-broken crate. That hadn’t been there the last time they had visited. 

In fact, several things had changed in the hall. It was still dark and stuffy, but there were tracks in the heavy dust that had clearly been left by someone dragging large objects across the floor. The rug that had been lying crumpled by the door was now rolled up and leaning against the wall. Whatever project these changes had been part of had clearly been abandoned early on, though.

“Fenris?” Their voice echoed a little in the empty room. 

There was no answer. They climbed the stairs, placing their feet in the tracks they had left during countless earlier visits. It was like this sometimes—he would not answer when they knocked or when they called out, but usually he was willing to at least let them stay awhile in silence. There had been nights, though, where he had coldly ordered them to leave without warning or justification, and they had always honored it. This space was his, even though sometimes he seemed like a ghost moving through another’s house.

Something rustled just beyond the doorway at the top of the stairs, and as they peeked through they saw Fenris hunched in a chair, staring at his hands. The room was unlit, and Hawke cautiously moved over to the candles lying on the table. “Is it okay if I…”

Fenris did not turn around, but he nodded, his pale hair almost luminescent in the gloom. Hawke struck one of the precious matches they had bought from a dwarven merchant and lit one of the tapers, placing it in a bracket on the wall.

“What happened in the foyer?” Hawke sat down in a chair across from Fenris.

To their surprise, he looked up and smiled grimly. “I was cleaning.”

“Cleaning?” Hawke tried to conceal their shock and failed badly. Fenris barked a laugh. “Yes.”

“You’ve been here nearly a year. Why stop living in chaos? You’ve got a good thing going.”

Fenris looked away, and Hawke bit their lip. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. I didn’t get that far anyways.”

“It’s not bad.”

“Don’t lie to me.” He stood up suddenly, sighed, and sat back down again. “It’s just… I don’t know how to make myself do things. I think about doing something, I stare at it, and I just… can’t.” Fenris got up again and walked over to a shelf that held a few dusty bottles of wine. “Do you want a drink?”

“Sure.”

Hawke hadn’t seen the glasses he pulled off the shelf before, though they’d been in this room many times. They accepted the slightly smudged wine glass without comment, and watched with a raised eyebrow as he pulled the cork from the bottle with his fingers and poured them a glass.

“I got so used to doing things because I was afraid.” 

Hawke looked up in surprise. They hadn’t expected him to keep going with the train of thought.

“I can do things when I think someone is going to be angry at me if I don’t. But I don’t know how to do things for myself. Even my rage is all about other people. So I just sit here. I’m fucking useless without someone making me do something. Ironic, right?” He snorted, but there was no humor in his eyes.

Hawke held out their hand, and after a long moment he took it. His fingers were shaking slightly, though his face was expressionless.

“I don’t think you’re useless,” Hawke said softly. “And I’m not just saying that because you’re my friend. You’re one of the most impressive people I’ve ever met.”

Fenris looked down, expression softening.

“This place is your own, and it doesn’t matter what you do with it. But if you’d ever like an extra set of hands, just let me know.” Hawke squeezed his hand before letting it go.

A slight smile crossed his lips. “I might like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> ironically, a good bit of my thought process while writing this was "wow look at this waste of time why are you being useless again"
> 
> i'm not even finished with my first playthrough of the game and i am already way too invested in these characters send help
> 
> also, all comments/feedback/suggestions are greatly appreciated! hope you enjoy


End file.
